“That’s a rare talent you have, Anthony, for lifting the spirits, but then no one could ever accuse you of lacking charm. But it’s plain to see you’re out of your element when it comes to proposing marriage. I believe the words should come in the form of a request, not a demand. You really must remember that the next time your sense of humor leans toward the absurd.”
He said nothing at first, but his eyes rose to meet hers. She grew suddenly uncomfortable under his level stare.
“Quite right, my dear. I’m afraid I lost my head.But then I rarely do things in a conventional manner.”
“Well…” She drew her ermine-trimmed pelisse closer together. It was a nervous gesture on her part. “I’ve taken up enough of your time.”
He sat up straight, hands pressed to knees. “You’re not leaving yet, not without giving me your answer.”
“Answer to what?”
“Will you marry me?”
Put to her conventionally, the question sounded no less absurd. “But you were joking!” she said incredulously.
“Afraid not, sweetheart. Though it’s as much a surprise to me as it is to you, I’m quite serious.”
Roslynn’s lips compressed tightly.Thiswas not funny at all. “It’s out of the question. I wouldn’t marry you any more than I would Geordie.”
Her previous laughter was understandable. And her reaction to his demand that she marry him was mild compared with his own surprise. But although the words had come of their own volition, once said, Anthony realized the idea of marriage, always so appalling before, suddenly had merit.
Not that he couldn’t be talked out of it if she weren’t standing there looking so fetching. He had gone thirty-five years without needing a wife and he certainly didn’t need one now. So what the bloody hell was he doing insisting he was serious when she had given him an out by doubting him?
The trouble was, he didn’t like being backed into a corner, and her threat to marry merely anybody did just that. And he liked even less the idea of her walking out of his life, which she was also threatening to do. For that matter, her leaving this roomwas the last thing he wanted. She was here. He was bloody well going to take advantage of it.
Her flat refusal to accept him, however, was the seed that tipped the scale. Shewouldhave him, by God, if he had to compromise her to get her agreement.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, my dear, but you haven’t another offer forthcoming, have you? And I recall your saying that it made no difference who you marry as long as you get it done.”
She frowned at him. “That’s true, but you happen to be the one exception.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say you’d make a terrible husband.”
“I always thought so,” he surprised her by agreeing. “Why else would I have avoided matrimony so long?”
“Well, then, you’ve mademypoint, haven’t you?”
He grinned now. “Just conceding the possibility, sweetheart. But let’s also look at the other side of the coin. I could as likely take to marriage right handily. Montieth did, and I’d have been the first to say he was doomed to failure.”
“Hehappens to love his wife,” she pointed out with annoying emphasis.
“Good God, you’re not waiting to hear me say I love you, are you? It’s rather soon—”
“Certainly not!” Roslynn cut in stiffly, cheeks flaming.
“But we both know I want you, don’t we? And we both know you—”
“Sir Anthony, please!” If it was possible for her face to get any hotter, it did. “There’s nothing you could say to me to make me change my mind. You just willna do for me. I swore I’d never marry myselfa rake, and you’ve admitted to me that’s what you are. And you canna change what you are, mon.”
“I suppose I have Lady Grenfell to thank for your inflexibility?”
Taken aback, she didn’t even wonder how he came to that conclusion. “Aye, Frances knows firsthand what happens when you lose your heart to a rake. Hers took to his heels when she needed marrying, forcing her to take what she could, which was an old man she loathed.”
The exotic slant to his eyes was much more prominent when he scowled. “I think it’s time you heard the full story, Roslynn. Old George simply panicked when faced so unexpectedly with fatherhood. He went off on a two-week spree to resign himself to the loss of his bachelorhood, and by the time he came to his senses, Frances was already married to Grenfell. She never once allowed him to see his son. She refused to see him when Grenfell died. If your friend has been miserable over the whole affair, so has mine been. The truth of the matter is, George would marry her now if she’d have him.”
Roslynn moved over to the lounge chair and sat down, dazedly staring at the cold hearth. Why did he have to know George Amherst? Why had he told her that? Frances would probably marry Amherst in a minute if she could bring herself to forgive him for what had doubtless been a most natural reaction on his part, considering what a rakehell he had been at the time. And what about Roslynn herself?
